Method and system for selectively presenting database results in an information retrieval system

ABSTRACT

An information retrieval system is described that dynamically prioritizes search request results prior to output to a user. When a database search yields multiple hits, the results are first categorized into a series of groups. Categories are determined from any number of different factors, such as geographical locations of the search results, amenities, hours of operation, etc. For each category, the search results can be parsed into groups within the category. The results are first reported to the user in general terms, as a number of search results in each of the groups. The user is prompted to select the group that is of most interest, and the portion of the individual search results that are within the selected group are reported.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to information retrieval systems, and moreparticularly, to dynamic processing of search results to be presented toa user in response to a data inquiry.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In our modern, fast-paced society, consumers are increasingly relyingupon directory assistance systems instead of conventional telephonebooks for quick access to directory information and guidance concerninglocal retail establishments or other popular destinations. Whether byuse of landline or mobile telephones, directory assistance systemsobviate the inconveniences of physically locating an appropriatetelephone book and manually researching through the book to find adesired telephone number to call. Further, directory assistance systemsare particularly useful for mobile telephone users seeking to place atelephone call while operating an automobile or otherwise being intransit.

Conventional telephone directory assistance systems operated by localtelephone companies have been in place in some format for over acentury, before telephones even incorporated dialing mechanisms. In themodern versions of conventional telephone directory assistance, acomputerized voice prompts a user to first identify a city and state andthen provide a name of a person or a business. If the information can berecognized and identified through speech recognition and/or naturallanguage understanding software, the requested telephone number isprovided through a computerized voice. Otherwise, a human telephoneoperator asks for additional information, such as spelling or a streetaddress, and then performs a database search. While this service isquite useful, it is generally limited to either providing telephonenumbers or directly connecting the caller to the requested person orbusiness.

Recently, directory assistance systems, particularly those designed foruse with mobile telephones, have incorporated additional features tofacilitate searching for other types of information concerning retailbusiness establishments. For example, directory assistance operators canprovide information concerning the weather, movie listings, restaurantsof a particular cuisine located in the vicinity, etc. These systems haveproven to be quite popular. However, their operation requires directinteraction with a human operator, which is expensive.

As speech recognition technology continually improves, applications forutilizing speech recognition for information retrieval systems arebecoming a more popular resource for consumers. As an example,“Info-by-voice for Atlanta” is an automated, voice-operated telephonedirectory that is available to consumers in the metropolitan areasurrounding Atlanta, Georgia, who wish to obtain directory assistanceinformation concerning topics such as restaurants, traffic information,stock quotes, weather, sports, and business news. By using this service,a caller provides information in response to a series of questions froma synthesized voice, and then receives a list of names and contactinformation for businesses matching the desired criteria. For example,if a caller submitted a request for Chinese restaurants, the systemmight identify five places for the caller to consider. As can be readilyseen, an audio information retrieval directory can provide a useful andconvenient resource for local and topical information.

Developments in dynamic processing of an index in a database forinformation retrieval systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,423to Anderson et al., issued Mar. 2, 1999 (“the '423 patent”), which isincorporated herein by reference. The '423 patent discloses a method andsystem for dynamically processing an index to create a set of questionsused when processing a data query. An index is a guide that is processedand used to find information from within a database, such as a databaseof classified advertising information. The set of questions are arrangedaccording to a question set order associated with the index, and the setof questions only includes those questions that trigger responses thatare found within the index.

While information retrieval systems such as those described in the '423patent have become more efficient in processing data inquiries andretrieving database information, there are several difficulties that areoften encountered when supplying the information to a caller. Even if acaller is fully concentrating on the telephone call, it is difficult forthe caller to retain more than limited amounts of the information thatwas provided orally by the information retrieval system. If the systemprovides as output a list of several business names that match thecaller's request, confusion is created as the caller attempts toremember all of the information. Considering that callers typicallyaccess such systems while operating a motor vehicle or are otherwise intransit, there is a need to quickly and efficiently communicate the mostpertinent information to the user. Accordingly, there is a need for asystem and method of formatting the results generated by an informationretrieval system to provide usable and easily discernable information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an information retrieval systemthat dynamically prioritizes search request results prior to an outputto a user, thereby providing guidance to the user. When a databasesearch yields multiple hits that are collectively too numerous topresent the user, the results are organized into groupings pertaining toa category to be selected from a plurality of categories. Each possiblecategory relates to a different aspect that differentiates between thesearch results, such as geographical location, hours of operation,amenities, etc. The available categories are ranked according to adefault priority. The system selects a category that is of the highestpriority and will provide a reasonable distribution of the searchresults. Once the category is determined, the search results are thendivided into groups corresponding to the category. The groups withineach category are criteria associated with the category. For example, ifthe category is “geographical location,” the groups in the category arelikely to be different geographical locations, and the search resultsare therefore divided and grouped according to their respectivegeographical locations. The user can choose to receive the searchresults in the group that is of most interest. The user also has anoption to reconfigure the output according to a different category.

When a user places a call into the information retrieval system, aseries of questions are presented to the user, and responses aresolicited and interpreted through voice recognition and/or naturallanguage understanding software to process an information request. Thesystem performs a search request in the database based upon therecognized responses to the presented questions. If the number of hitsfrom the search request is too large to be easily comprehended by thecaller, the system continues to prompt the user for more responses inorder to narrow the search. Upon fielding a reasonable number of searchresults, the system determines whether all of the search results shouldbe reported to the user. If there is only a small number of searchresults, these are output to the user.

When there is more than a predetermined number of useful search results,the system then selects a category by which the output can be organized.The possible categories are weighted or prioritized in an orderaccording to the category that is likely to be of the most significanceto the user and provides an acceptable result distribution. The resultsare then divided into groups pertaining to the highest prioritycategory. The names of the groups are then provided to the user, and theuser selects a group in the category.

If the number of search results in the selected group is too numerous tobe easily presented to the user, the system can then select anothercategory, and divide the search results from the selected group furtherinto new groups corresponding to the next selected category. Thisprocess is repeated until the search results in a selected group are ofa reasonable number that can be presented to the user.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a method forselectively presenting output from a database search in a databasesystem. The information retrieval system generates a list of categoriesby which a plurality of database search results can be sorted, whereineach category includes a plurality of groups, and each of the pluralityof database search results is associated with one of the groups in eachcategory. A default priority is assigned for each of the categories. Thesystem receives an unsorted list of database search results, selects acategory from the list of categories having the highest defaultpriority, and sorts the search results into the respective groupsassociated with the selected category. In an alternative embodiment, themethod according to the present invention eliminates categories from thelist of categories in which all of the search results in the unsortedlist of database search results would be sorted into the same group.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an informationretrieval system for providing information about a plurality of items ofinterest in response to a search request. A database records unit storesa plurality of information about a plurality of items of interest. Aquestion generator table generates a set of questions to prompt a userto provide search request parameters for searching the database recordsunit. A database search engine searches the database records unitaccording to a search request. A categories generator table generates alist of categories by which search results from the database recordsunit can be sorted by criteria associated with each category. The searchresults are output in a format sorted according to criteria in acategory selected from the list of categories.

The present invention is also directed to a method for sorting searchresults according to geographical regions within the local geographicalarea, in an information retrieval system for providing information inresponse to search requests for businesses or other places of interestin a local geographical area. A list of geographical regions in a localgeographical area are stored in a first database. The search results arethen grouped according to the geographical region from the list ofgeographical regions that corresponds to a geographical locationassociated with each of the search results.

The present invention is further directed to a method for sorting searchresults into groups according to a category selected from a plurality ofcategories, in an information retrieval system for providing informationin response to search requests for businesses or other places ofinterest in a local geographical area. A list of categories by which aplurality of search results can be sorted is stored, wherein eachcategory is associated with at least one type of business or place ofinterest. The system determines a type of business or place of interestassociated with each of the search results. A grouping of categories isgenerated from the list of categories that are associated with the sametype of business or place of interest as the search results. A categoryis then selected from the grouping of categories, and the search resultsare sorted into groups associated with the selected category.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a computer system for use with aninformation retrieval system of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the database system stored in thememory of the computer system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3a is an exemplary flow diagram of the steps for conducting adatabase search in an information retrieval system and reporting theresults to a user according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3b is an exemplary flow diagram of the steps for conducting adatabase search in the information retrieval system and reporting theresults to a user according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary database table of information stored in aninformation retrieval system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a set of questions generated during adialogue for conducting the steps of the database search in FIG. 3a.

FIG. 6 is a chart of search results to be stored in temporary memory inthe information retrieval system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a chart of categories and respective groups for a type ofbusiness for an information retrieval system of the preferredembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is directed to a system and methods for organizingand categorizing audio information responses in an information retrievalsystem. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary computer system 10for implementing the information retrieval system of the presentinvention. The computer system 10 includes processor 11, system memory12, and telephony front end server 13. Information is input or outputfrom the computer system 10 through I/O interface 14 to conventionalhard drives or network connectivity. The telephony front end server 13acts as a communications interface connected to a conventional publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) or IP Network (IPN) 15 to provide aconnection between the computer system at I/O interface 14 and aconventional landline or wireless mobile telephone. Through thisconfiguration, a user can interact with the computer system 10 throughvoice responses via conventional telephones 16 a-16 c. The publicswitched telephone network 15 is connected to a wireless communicationsnetwork 17, which in turn communicates with mobile telephones 16 d-16 e,or any other type of mobile communications unit.

FIG. 2 provides a schematic diagram of an exemplary database system 20stored in system memory 12 of computer system 10. Database system 20includes a database records storage unit 21, containing a multitude ofrecords 21 a-21 n of information to be supplied to consumers through theinformation retrieval system. The database records each contain a term,such as the name of a restaurant or other business, the hours of itsoperation, payment methods, and any offered amenities. An example of aseries of database records for an exemplary item of interest isdescribed in further detail below with reference to FIG. 4. Databasesystem 20 may also associate Database Records Storage Unit 21 with anindex 22 for database processing. U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,423 provides adiscussion concerning the interaction of a database system with an indexto facilitate database processing. Information provided to computersystem 10 from a user is input to index 22 to facilitate searching inthe Database Records Storage Unit 21, as is known in databaseprocessing.

The database index is also in communication with Question GeneratorTable 23. The Question Generator Table 23 supplies questions to promptthe user for data to supply to Database Index 22 to search the DatabaseRecords Storage Unit 21. Question Generator Table 23 dynamicallygenerates a set of questions according to scripts, or collections ofpotential questions associated with index categories in Database Index22. Questions are selected from the scripts according to input receivedas responses to previous questions. Questions are selected from thescripts that prompt a response recognizable in Database Index 22, whichnarrows the search results in the Database Records Storage Unit 21.Questions generated in table 23 are output from system memory as astring of data, which is converted in I/O interface 14 of computersystem 10 in a speech synthesizer to provide a digitized, automated oralcommunication to the user to prompt a response. The generation of aseries of questions for a database search is discussed in greater detailbelow with reference to FIG. 5.

Database Records Storage Unit 21 is additionally connected withUnprocessed Output Table 24, which stores preliminary database searchresults. After a series of questions are asked according to QuestionGenerator Table 23 and responses are interpreted in index 22, a listingof the search results are copied from Database Records Storage Unit 21and stored in Unprocessed Output Table 24. The search results can bestored in the form of a list of data, as shown in greater detail belowwith reference to FIG. 6. If the number of search results to be storedis greater than the available storage space in the Unprocessed OutputTable 24, a control message is sent to Database Index 22 and forwardedto Question Generator Table 23 to prompt the user with narrowerquestions.

Unprocessed Output Table 24 is in communication with CategoriesGenerator 25. The Categories Generator 25 provides a list of categoriesin which the unprocessed output can be parsed, separated, or organized.The list of categories that are selected typically correspond withcharacteristics concerning the items of interest provided in theUnprocessed Output Table 24. As an example, if a user is conducting asearch during the late evening, the user may be interested in whetherthe items of interest that are retrieved from the database or open latein the evening. The Categories Generator 25 may select to process theselected output into groups of those items of interest that are openvery late into the evening, those that are closing at midnight, andthose that are closed at the time of the search. As another example, theCategories Generator 25 may process the selected output according togeographical region. For example, if the system is able to detect thatthe user in the previous example is calling from a particulargeographical intersection, the Categories Generator may select toprocess the selected output into groups of those restaurants that arewithin two miles of the intersection, those that are not within twomiles of the intersection. Most commonly, the Categories Generator 25will incorporate geographical location as a factor in selectinggroupings. Another example of the selections in the Categories Generator25 is provided below with reference to FIG. 7.

The database system 20 further includes a Temporary Output Table 26,connected to the Unprocessed Output Table 24 and the CategoriesGenerator 25. The Temporary Output Table sorts the list of output in theUnprocessed Output Table 24 according to the groups defined by theCategories Generator 25. The results are then provided through I/O 14 tothe user through a speech synthesizer. The results can be presented in avariety of different formats. For example, the system may list thoseresults in the grouping expected to be of the most interest to the user.If this sorting method is not acceptable to the user, the user can thenprobe the system, through the Categories Generator 25, to re-sort theoutput based upon a different sorting method. As another example, thesystem can simply provide a brief description of the sorting method, andthen probe the user for a selected group.

The index, tables, and generator described and illustrated in FIG. 2 canreside in interspersed portions of memory 12, and do not have to bephysically grouped together as in the schematic diagram. The componentsin FIG. 2 are presented in the schematic diagram according to aninformation retrieval system of the preferred embodiment. Many databasesystem configurations can be designed to perform the features describedwith respect to the index, tables, and generators in FIG. 2, and othersuch configurations are within the scope of the invention.

The method of performing a database search in the information retrievalsystem and providing results to the user according to a first embodimentis further described with reference to the flow diagram in FIG. 3a. Theinformation retrieval system receives a call from a user and informs thecaller of the information service in step 30. In doing so, the systemprovides a standard voice greeting to inform the user of availablesearch categories and features in the system. Using speech recognitionand speech synthesis, a dialogue then commences in steps 31 and 32between the user and the system. Speech recognition is performed withMarkov modeling algorithms and phoneme-based recognition, matching andcomparison, with a database index populated with expected userresponses.

The dialogue in steps 31 and 32 is directed by a dynamic grammaralgorithm, in which a set of questions is selected from pre-generatedscripts in the Question Generator Table 23. The selected questions arechosen dynamically, in that they are responsive to the input receivedfrom the user. For example, if the user indicates that she is searchingfor a restaurant, the system will most likely inquire about the user'sdesired type of food. On the other hand, if the user indicates that sheis searching for a drugstore/pharmacy to fill a prescription, the systemwill most likely inquire about what brand pharmacy the user prefers. Asa follow-up question, the system may ask about the desired location.Therefore, the system selects different questions depending upon theuser's response to simulate a conversational interview.

After responses are received, the system determines in step 33 whethermore information is required before conducting a database search. Forexample, if the user has requested a search for service stations in theregion, the system might find through an initial or preliminary searchthat there are over a hundred businesses that fit the description.Therefore, the system will ask follow-up questions, perhaps concerningthe township, the amenities, etc., in order to qualify the results list.In one embodiment of the present invention, the initial searches in step33 are abbreviated searches in which the system only tallies the numberof hits in the database according to the search terms gathered thus far.

In step 34, after receiving key input from the user, the system can nowconduct a database search for the requested information. A determinationis then made in step 35 as to the usability of the results. If thereremains an overwhelming number of search results, the system cycles backto step 31 to prompt the user for more information to narrow the searchfurther. The system will also cycle back to step 31 if there are nosearch results from the database search. Otherwise, the systemdetermines in step 36 whether the results can now be output withoutfurther processing. If the system outputs the search results as an oralcommunication through a speech synthesizer, the user cannot rememberinformation concerning more than a few businesses. However, if theoutput includes only three or fewer search results, the system can mostlikely directly output these results, in step 37 and complete thetransaction in step 38.

If there are more than three search results, the system will thenprocess and sort these results according to a selected category.Referring to FIG. 2, the information requested from the database isstored in the Unprocessed Output Table 24 at this stage. The requestedinformation is placed into the output table according its positionwithin the Database Records Storage Unit 21. From this information, thesystem will select and group database records to present to the user.The system then determines the categories for sorting the unprocessedoutput in step 39. In many circumstances, the system will sort theoutput results according geographical location. For example, a searchfor a car wash will likely be sorted by location. However, dependingupon the dialogue in steps 31 and 32, the system may sort according toother attributes, such as amenities, hours of operation, price, brand,etc. The category determination is determined in Categories Generator 25in FIG. 2.

From a list of possible categories, the system next selects a categoryby which the search results are to be sorted, in step 40. In determiningthe selected category, the Categories Generator 25 receives adescription of the desired type of business from the Unprocessed OutputTable 24, and also receives a history of the dialogue according toQuestion Generator Tables 23. The category is chosen that will mostlikely assist the user in obtaining the desired result. In oneembodiment, each of the categories is associated with a differentpriority level, and the category is selected based on priority.

Once the category is determined by which the information will bepresented, the system sorts the output into groups in step 41. Thesorted output is extracted from the Unprocessed Output Table 24 andplaced into the Temporary Output Table 26.

The system then determines which group is to be presented to the user,in step 42. This can be performed by prompting the user for a selection,or by automatically selecting a group. In one embodiment, the group thatis the most populated with search results is selected. Alternatively,the group that is most commonly selected may be automatically chosen.

Instead of selecting a group in step 42, the user may instead provideother information to the system. In some circumstances, the user maywish for the results to be arranged according to a different categorythan that determined by the system. In step 43, the system detectswhether the user provided the name of the category by which the resultsshould be sorted instead of selecting a group. If the system recognizesthis category, it re-selects the category in step 40, and re-sorts thesearch results into new groups in step 41. If the user is satisfied withthe new category, the user will now select a group in step 42.

After sorting the search output into groups, and receiving ordetermining a selection of a group, the system re-evaluates in step 36whether the number of search results in the selected group is areasonable amount to present to the user. If there are still too manysearch results, the system selects a new category in steps 39 and 40,and re-sorts those search results that were sorted into the previouslyselected group into new groups that correspond to the newly selectedcategory. This process continues until the number of search results in aselected group are sufficiently small to deliver to the user in step 37.

Although the flow diagram of FIG. 3a provides one example of a methodfor selectively presenting output in an information retrieval systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, there are manyvariants of this method that are contemplated to be within the scope ofthe present invention. For example, in another embodiment, the systemomits the step of check the usability of the database search results instep 35. In another embodiment, the system does not utilize initial orpreliminary database checks in step 33, but instead performs completesearches and then determines whether the results are usable in step 35.

In yet another embodiment, the system incorporates the category andgroup selection information determined by the Group Categories Generatoras additional criteria to further narrow the database search. As shownin FIG. 3b, the steps of identifying the caller to the service, askingquestions and receiving responses, performing an initial databasesearch, and detecting whether more information is required is performedin the same manner as in FIG. 3a. In step 50, the system then performs adatabase search. As in FIG. 3a, the system returns to step 31 if theresults from this database search are unusable. Also, if the results areusable, and the number of the results is sufficiently small to bedeliverable in step 52, the system presents the results in step 53 andterminates the call in step 54. If there are more than a predeterminednumber of search results, the system then proceeds to determine thecategories by which the output can be sorted in step 55, and thenselects a category in step 56. The list of groups that correspond to theselected category is retrieved in step 57. The list of groupings arethen provided to the user in step 58, and an input response is receivedin step 59. Using the selected category determined in step 56 and theselected group determined in step 59 as additional criteria, the systemnow formulates a new database search including the additional criteria,thereby returning to step 50. This process repeats itself until areasonable number of usable search results are retrieved for the user.

FIG. 4 provides an example of information that may be contained withinthe Database Storage Records Unit 21 in the information retrieval systemof the preferred embodiment. There are several businesses listed in thetable, each of which is associated with a name, address, telephonecontact, hours of operation, location, and type of business. Somebusinesses, such as “Joe's American Food,” are associated with severaltypes of businesses, including in this case “restaurant/bar/danceclub/banquet facility/caterer/event site.” Many businesses are alsoassociated additional categories, such as a “features” category thatdescribes the goods or services provided by the business, a “specialty”category that describes a unique attribute of the business, and a“prices” category for the business' primary products. For somebusinesses, such as a gasoline station, there is no informationapplicable to the “features” or “specialty” category.

A user accesses the information in the Database Records Storage Unit byresponding to questions generated in the Question Generator Table 23.FIG. 5 provides an example of a series of questions generated in theQuestion Generator Table 23 to perform a database search forinformation, such as the information provided in FIG. 4. The informationretrieval system begins with a general question, such as “What type ofbusiness are you interested in?” Once this question is reported to theuser, the system is configured to “expect” to hear one of the possibleresponses. In the example of FIG. 5, the user responds with the word“Restaurants.”

The system now performs a preliminary database search for allrestaurants in the database. Because there are numerous American-stylerestaurants in the database, the dialogue with the user continues tonarrow the search.

The Question Generator then triggers the next question, “Search by name,or by type of food?” If the user knows the name of the restaurant, theuser can bypass the dialogue by stating “name” and then the name of adesired restaurant. In the example provided in FIG. 5, the user responds“type of food,” which triggers the question, “What type of food wouldyou like?” As seen in FIG. 5, the system is configured to recognize oneof the possible responses. In this case, the user responds by stating“American.”

The system now performs a database search. The search results areextracted from Database Records Storage Unit 21 and placed intoUnprocessed Output Table 24. In this example, there are elevenAmerican-style restaurants in the database, which are too many to bereported to the user. Therefore, the system needs to sort the searchresults according to categories.

There are several possible categories to sort the search results ofAmerican restaurants. For example, the system could sort according toprice, location, amenities, specials, size, etc. The system determinesthat the “location” is of the highest priority, and selects to sortaccording to location. The system then informs the user, “There are manyAmerican style restaurants in the suburbs. Five are near downtown, fourare near Buckhead, and two are near Lincoln. Which area of town do youwant?” In this example, the user indicates “Buckhead.”

FIG. 6 provides an example of the sorted search results. In this case,each of the five businesses is a restaurant located in Buckhead. Theprices of entrees, the operating hours, the specialties, and thefeatures for each of the restaurants vary.

Continuing the example of FIGS. 4-6, there are still too many searchresults to easily present to the user. In this example, the user willnot be able to remember the names of each of the four restaurants thatare in Buckhead. Therefore, the system needs to sort these searchresults according to an additional category.

FIG. 7 provides a chart of categories for selectively presenting thesearch results for “American restaurants.” The Categories have a defaultorder of priority that can be automatically modified based upon thesearch dialogue and other factors. In the current example, although the“regional location” category is typically the most relevant measure bywhich the results are sorted, this has already been chosen, andtherefore all of the search results are in the same general location,“Buckhead.” The type of restaurant is an important criteria for choosinga restaurant, and is therefore chosen.

Once the output is sorted by category, the output is again reported tothe user in FIG. 5 as: “Two fine dining establishments, one diner, andone fast food restaurant.” The user can then request, for example,“diner.” Because there is only one diner, the system determines that theresults are deliverable and understandable. The system will then report“Joe's American Food,” with the address, telephone number, anddirections.

The foregoing disclosure of embodiments of the present invention andspecific examples illustrating the present invention have been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Many variations and modifications of the embodiments described hereinwill be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of theabove disclosure. The scope of the invention is to be defined only bythe claimed appended hereto, and by their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information retrieval system for providinginformation about a plurality of items of interest in response to asearch request, comprising: a database records unit for storing aplurality of information about a plurality of items of interest; aquestion generator table for generating a set of questions to prompt auser to provide search request parameters for searching the databaserecords unit; a database search engine for searching the databaserecords unit according to a search request; and a categories generatortable for generating a list of categories by which search results fromthe database records unit can be sorted by criteria associated with eachcategory, wherein the number of search results within each criteria arepresented, and search results of a selected criteria in a categoryselected from the list of categories are presented when the number ofsearch results associated with that criteria is below a thresholdamount.
 2. The information retrieval system according to claim 1,wherein the question generator table contains sets of questions for eachtype of item of interest pertaining to features of a desired item ofinterest.
 3. The information retrieval system according to claim 1,wherein the group categories generator contains at least one categoryfor each type of item of interest.
 4. The information retrieval systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the group categories generator contains aplurality of categories for each type of item of interest, and wherein,for each type of item of interest, each category is associated with apriority level relative to the other categories, and the category withthe highest priority level is selected for sorting the search results.5. The information retrieval system according to claim 1, wherein thequestion generator table prompts a user for search request informationby audio signals using a speech synthesizer.
 6. The informationretrieval system according to claim 1, wherein the database searchengine receives search requests by audio signals, which are decoded bycomputerized speech recognition or natural language understandinganalysis.
 7. The information retrieval system according to claim 1,wherein the search results are output by audio signals using a speechsynthesizer.
 8. A method for selectively presenting search results froma database, comprising: (a) generating a list of categories by which aplurality of database search results can be sorted, wherein eachcategory includes a plurality of groups, and each of the plurality ofdatabase search results is associated with one of the groups in eachcategory; (b) receiving an unsorted list of database search results; and(c) when the number of database search results is below a predeterminednumber, presenting the search results as output; and (d) when the numberof database search results is above the predetermined number, (i)receiving a category from the list of categories for sorting the searchresults; (ii) sorting the search results according to the groupsassociated with the selected category; (iii) receiving a selection ofone of the groups associated with the selected category; and (iv)presenting the search results in the selected group.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 8, further comprising the step of eliminatingcategories from the list of categories for which all of the searchresults are sorted into the same group in the category.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the search results sorted into theselected group are further sorted into groups associated with anotherselected category to reduce the number of search results sorted intoeach group before presenting the search results.
 11. A method forselectively presenting search results from a database, comprising:associating each of a plurality of database search results with at leastone of a plurality of categories, wherein each category includes aplurality of groups into which the database search results in therespective categories are further associated; selecting a category fromthe plurality of categories; identifying the number of search resultsthat are associated with each group within the selected category; andpresenting search results associated with a requested group within theselected category if the number of search results in the group is belowa threshold amount.
 12. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising the step of eliminating categories from the plurality ofcategories to be selected for which substantially all of the searchresults are associated with the same group.
 13. The method according toclaim 11, wherein the plurality of database search results are items ofinterest stored in a directory assistance information retrieval system,and each of the categories provide criteria for distinguishing betweenthe items of interest.
 14. The method according to claim 11, wherein thedatabase search results are provided in response to a database searchrequest generated according to search criteria determined by prompting auser to respond to a series of questions, and the database searchrequest is re-generated by adding additional search criteria when thereare more than a predetermined number of search results in response tothe database search request.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein theselected category is requested.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising the step of presenting a subset of the plurality ofcategories, wherein the selected category is requested from the subsetof the plurality of categories.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising the step of assigning a priority for each of the categories,wherein the subset of the plurality of categories that are presented areselected according to the assigned priority.
 18. The method of claim 11,wherein if the number of search results in the requested group is at orabove a threshold amount, selecting another category; of the databasesearch results in the requested group that are associated with theselected another category, presenting search results associated with arequested group within the selected another category if the number ofsearch results in the group is below a threshold amount.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 18, wherein additional categories are selected untilthe number of search results in a requested group is less than athreshold number.
 20. The method of claim 11, further comprising thestep of identifying a calling condition of a user requesting the searchresults, wherein the category is selected according to the callingcondition.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein a calling conditionincludes time of day that the user requests the search results orlocation of the user.
 22. The method of claim 11, further comprising thestep of identifying the number of search results associated with each ofthe plurality of groups within the selected category.
 23. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the number of search results that are associated witha group within the selected category may be zero.